The Colours of Sunset
by kiminicricket
Summary: Katniss discovers that she is pregnant, and then a series of non-chronological one shots featuring fluffy Everlark :)
1. Chapter 1

I sat hunched over myself in the closet, my arms wrapped around my knees, my forehead resting on my arms while I repeated what I know to be true.

_My name is Katniss Meelark. I am 27 years old. I live in District 12. I was in the hunger games. Twice. I escaped. Twice. I assassinated President Coin. President Snow is Dead. Peeta and I got married. My sister is dead. My mother lives in district 4. I am pregnant._

It's the last one that sets me off - Terror freezes my veins and I sit in a terrified stupor, unintelligible muttering streaming from my mouth.

It has been a long time since my last episode, possibly more than a year, but now when they come, they come long and hard. I try my little game again, but cannot get past two points.

_My name is Katniss Meelark. I am pregnant._

_Pregnant._

The last thing I ever wanted to do in this life was bring a child into the world. This world full of starving countrymen, and a sadistic president who would force children to fight to the death for the entertainment of the elite.

I don't know how long I sat there in the closet before light came streaming through. I squinted up at the figure in the doorway.

"Katniss?" Concern etched his features and coloured his voice, and without another thought I reached for him. My sunshine when the world is dark, my rainbow in the storm. My dandelion in a patch of weeds. He hunkers down and crawls into the closet with me.

Its very crowded with two people, but finally, with his strong arms around me and my head pressed against his chest where I can hear the beating of his heart, some reason returns to me. I let out a sigh and relax for the first time since I discovered I was pregnant.

After all, this was the man who had overcome hi-jacking of the most personal kind and, despite my not deserving a speck of it, came to love me again. This was the man who lived his life to protect me, who would do anything for me, who despite his own tortured past, still sees the positives in the world, the beauty, the colour, the goodness. I know that without him I probably would have wound up drunk and alone, like Haymitch.

I shift a bit so I can lean up and kiss him. That he is still concerned for me is evident, but after seven years of marriage, he knows when to press and when to let me be, so he just holds me securely against him, kissing me back, running his hands through my hair and setting my blood on fire.

Not that we can get too carried away in this tiny space, so before things get too heated I pull back and again lean my head against his chest, listening to his heart.

We sit in silence for a few minutes, him tracing patterns on my back, and me tracing the lines on the palm of his other hand before he mentions moving.

"I think my leg is falling asleep," he comments.

In response I shuffle out of the cupboard, then lean in to help him up. Once we are both standing, I move right back into the safety of his arms. I can't cope with the world right now; I just need him surrounding me, supporting me like he always does.

I know he thinks that this is related to a flashback or a nightmare or something, and I try to will myself to say the words, to let him know. I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. I bury my face in his chest and he runs his fingers through my hair.

It is there, with my eyes squeezed shut and my mouth up against his chest where the words are so garbled they are unintelligible that I first say it out loud.

"I'm pregnant,"

Of course he can't understand me. I could hardly understand myself, but just saying the words has set a tremor to my bones. My hands begin to shake, and my heart is pounding so heavily I can feel my pulse in my little toe.

Peeta draws back slightly so he can look me in the eye.

"What is it Katniss?" he asks.

I sigh and look away. He is always so patient with me. I know that I will never deserve him. I take a deep breath and brace myself to tell him the truth.

I don't realize I'm crying until he reaches out to wipe a tear away from my cheek.

I look up at him. I know he wants this. We have had many conversations about it. It's the only thing we argue about, whether or not to bring children into the world.

Peeta is all for it, arguing that with the Games gone, and Paylor as president the world was as safe as it ever was.

I just could not imagine bringing a child into a world where there was even a possibility they could get selected to participate in something so depraved as the Hunger Games, and even though they were over, how could we be sure that years from now, someone wouldn't imagine up another use for them? How could I keep my children safe in such a world? I would be powerless, like my mother was powerless against the reaping.

Nevertheless at this particular moment, I clung to Peeta's belief with everything I had inside of me. Without it I would go mad. It was too late for anything else, I had to believe it. And with Peeta holding me, I almost could.

I swallowed and took a deep breath, looking up into his blue eyes that still sometimes clouded over with confusion, still sometimes stared into space for hours getting lost in a memory or a flashback.

I reached up and cupped his face, and with tears in my eyes, told him.

"I'm Pregnant,"

Joy lit his eyes at my words, then disbelief as he searched my face for traces of jest. Finally understanding. He always understood me. He knew why I was so tortured about this.

He squeezed me tight against him, and I clung to his strength and steadiness.

"It will be ok!" he assured me, "the games are gone and they aren't coming back!"

I nodded into his chest.

"I'm going to need you to keep telling me that," I whispered.

Peeta stepped back and cupped my face. The joy was back in his expression, and I could tell he was barely containing it.

"Always," he said.

This was his promise to me - to stay with me, to protect me, to encourage me and to lift me up – always. A smile crept up onto my face. Seeing it, Peeta let go of whatever was holding his joy in check and lifted me in his arms, spinning me around.

"We're going to have a baby!" he cried out.

I couldn't help but laugh at his antics, his joy. And wrapped in his joyful embrace, I felt a stirring of happiness myself. For the first time I let myself believe that everything was going to be ok.

I reached up on tip toe to kiss him again, and as he enthusiastically reciprocated, the beautiful orange colours of sunset once again lit our little world.

* * *

><p>KC<p>

thanks for reading!

if you feel like it, come follow me on twitter.. /Kiminiminimini


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Hey readers, soooo I know this is not in chronological order.. sorry.. I think this story will be more a collection of one shots than an actual story.. I hope you like it anyway :) it ****sort of came to me as I was re-watching Catching Fire, and so, of course, I had to write it.. let me know what you think :)**

**p.s. a million thanks to the two of you who reviewed my first chapter! Mockingjay2 and guest, if you are back, I hope you enjoy this one too :)**

* * *

><p>I wake with a gasp, panic freezing my muscles and straining my breathing. Blindly I reach for the spot beside me, the spot where she always sleeps. I am immediately comforted by her warmth and I quickly wrap my arms around her, assuring my heart once again that she is here, real, with me.<p>

She is not torn to pieces by some capitol mutt, she is not strangled to death by my own hand. She is alive, breathing, and sleeping right next to me.

In her sleep she wraps herself closer to my body and mumbles something that I cant distinguish. She moans in her sleep, and I draw her tighter against me. It's not the worst of the nightmares, the ones where she would thrash and kick and scream until she awoke, dripping with sweat, but it definitely wasn't a good dream either.

Its almost dawn, and seeing no reason to go back to sleep and revisit my nightmares, I lay, staring at the ceiling, and absently tracing patterns on her back, which seems to soothe whatever nightmare is going on in her head, because she stills, and the moans stop.

We are always together now. Nothing separates us. It has been a long journey, growing back together, but we made it. I can't stand to be away from her, and distance from me makes her physically ill with anxiety. It's probably not the healthiest way to live, but I suppose it beats a dependence on liquor or morphling.

I hear her breathing change as she slowly rouses herself from sleep.

She pushes herself up on one elbow and squints up at me through sleep bleared eyes.

"Morning," she croaks out. I smile, even with bed hair and dried drool on her cheek she is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.

"Good morning," I gently squeeze the arm that is around her, and she cuddles up to me for a moment before pushing up to look at me again.

Something is on her mind. I can tell. She's doing that thing where she looks at me and bites her lip. It drives me wild, so I lean in and kiss her.

She responds enthusiastically, but I can tell she is distracted, so I drop my head back to the pillow with a sigh. She leans up over me and looks down at me, one arm resting on my chest, her fingers absently playing with my chest hair.

"Peeta, will you stay with me?" she asks quietly.

I look up at her quizzically. My mind races back to the first time she asked me that, on the tribute train while we were doing the victory tour. I think about the nights we spent comforting each other from the night terrors, the safety we felt in each other's arms.

My answer to her is the same it was that night.

"Always," I whisper, reaching up to trace her cheekbone with my fingertips. She closes her eyes at my touch.

"Always always?"

I frown. Where was this coming from? Surely she knew I would never leave her! I was about to voice just that when she opened her eyes and with her gaze pinned me down.

"Peeta, will you marry me?"

That gets me moving. I sit bolt upright, and she sits up too. I stare at her dumbly for a minute, looking unbelievably beautiful with her hair falling all around her face and the sheets wrapped around her body.

"Wha- you- I-" I sputter, getting out of the bed and pacing a few steps before turning back to her.

"Katniss, that's not fair! I'm supposed to ask you that question!" I finally manage to get out.

"Well where you ever going to get to it?" she challenged, fire and humor in her eyes.

"Yes!"

Of course I was going to ask her to be my wife, I had only been planning on it since we were in grade school! I just didn't want to rush her after everything we had been through.

Admittedly, it has been 7 years since the war. Maybe I had been dragging my feet a bit too long.

"Yes, you will, or yes you were?" she asks cheekily.

I stare at her for a moment. The capitol knew her as the girl on fire. The rebels knew her as the mockingjay. But I know her as Katniss. The girl who loves so deeply that she sacrifices herself to do it. The girl who saved my life not once, not twice, but more times than I can even count. The girl who has been shot down more times than I can count, but still finds a reason to get up in the mornings. This is the girl who wants to marry me. And not just for a Capitol gimmick, there are no more cameras. The love I read in her eyes is real, as real as my own.

She regards me with her clear grey eyes, patiently awaiting my answer.

I slowly walk towards her, saying the only thing I can possibly say.

"Yes."

Before pinning her to the bed and claiming her lips with my own.

The way we danced, I think she got the message that I meant both.

* * *

><p><strong>KC<strong>

**eh probably not my best work.. but also not my worst.. be my best friend and leave me a review? Love you! xox**


	3. Chapter 3

I woke with a gasp, covered in sweat. I choked out a sob and the tears streamed down my face.

_Not real, not real, not real_. I repeated to myself, trying to slow my erratic heartbeat.

Except that it was. Real. I mean, not happening right this moment, but it definitely happened.

I broke down and let myself sob for a few minutes, but the tears ran dry sooner than I expected.

They said this would happen. They said to just give it time. I didn't believe them, because every time I thought of her my heart felt like it was broken into a million pieces, but evidence supporting them was in my short breakdown this night. While my heart still felt shattered, the tears were running out. The thought both relieved and depressed me.

Not that I could go back to sleep. Every time I closed my eyes the image of her on fire burned through my conscience.

I peeled back the covers and walked out to the kitchen to get a glass of milk.

I was walking back towards my room when I heard it. Shrieking. Coming from the guest bedroom, the one where Peeta was staying tonight.

Things had been strained between us since the return from the capitol. I think we both yearned for the way things were, but we were both so different, we had no idea how to get there.

Peeta usually stayed in his own house, but we had shared a meal last night and I told him to just crash in the guest bedroom. I felt more comfortable when he was close.

The shrieking came again, and I made my way to the doorway of the guestroom, watching the boy I had come to care for so deeply thrash in his sleep, fighting unseen terrors and demons. I watched as he bolted upright, screaming before opening his eyes and scanning the room.

His eyes locked on mine, standing in the doorway. We regarded each other seriously for a few moments, taking in each other's red-rimmed eyes, his shortness of breath, and the dusky bags under my eyes.

Finally I dropped my eyes to stare at the ground.

"Sorry, I heard you screaming," I said, turning to return to my room.

"Katniss," he called, stopping me.

I turned to face him and I saw the ghost of a smile cross his face. If I had blinked I would have missed it.

"Stay with me?" he asked, and a ghost of a smile crossed my face also.

I hurried over to the bed and crawled in beside him, and he wrapped his arms around me as I snuggled into him. I closed my eyes and sighed. For the first time, I felt like some of my heart might have escaped annihilation.

"Always," I whispered. He squeezed me tight against him in response.

* * *

><p>I opened my eyes to the bright light of midmorning. There was a warmth at my side. A glance down told my I hadn't been dreaming, that Katniss really did come to me in the night. She was currently curled into my side, one arm circling my waist. My arm is wrapped securely around her, holding her against me. The first glimmer of happiness that I have felt since the capitol sparks in my heart, and blooms when she opens her eyes and squints up at me.<p>

"Good morning," my voice is low and gravelly – probably due to the screaming last night.

"Good morning," she replies, leaning up on one elbow.

No further words are passed between us as we simply enjoy the nearness of each other.

Eventually though, Katniss stretches and mentions breakfast.

Well now that she's gone and mentioned food, my stomach is grumbling.

Thanks to Greasy Sae, Katniss has a full pantry, and we are sitting at the breakfast table in a matter of minutes.

"Peeta," Katniss begins, once we have almost finished our meal, "your nightmares are different now aren't they?"

I nod, my throat tightening up remembering the one from last night. Needles, electric shocks, the agonized, wordless screams of an avox, and worst of all, reaching out to kill Katniss again and again. I shuddered. She reached out and grabbed my hand.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you, but you never used to thrash like you were last night." She mentioned.

I nodded, my gaze on the ground.

"Every night, I dream of the capitol." I say, "I struggle to escape, but I never can." Tears have built up in my eyes, and I can see them in hers as well.

"I can do nothing to escape what they did to me, I can do nothing when I reach out and kill you again and again,"

My voice breaks on this admission, and Katniss is around the table, her arms around me, comforting me.

"I'm sorry, you don't have to speak of it," she says.

But I somehow feel better having spoken of it, like I have taken control of it and clarified it as just a dream. A terrible dream of a horrifying time in my past to be sure, but nothing more than that.

"It's ok," I say, my voice again strong and sure, "it was better when you were there though, I didn't have another nightmare after that."

She smiled a small smile. "Me either."

I reach out and grab her hand.

"Stay with me again tonight?"

She nods, blushing and looking at the ground, and I think she is not going to say anything, but then she looks up at me and whispers.

"Always."

* * *

><p>KC<p>

please review :)


	4. Chapter 4

"Aahh!" I cried out as an intense pain ripped across my lower abdomen, waking me up. I groped around for Peeta's hand and held on tight as the pain worked its way through. The force of it left me panting, and Peeta turned bleary eyes to me as I slowly released his hand.

"What is it Katniss?" he asked, sleep clouding his voice.

But I couldn't answer. It had started. Panic clawed in my chest and dark spots clouded my vision as I had to remind myself to breathe. But how? My lungs screamed for the air my confused body seemed incapable of inhaling and I threw my head backwards and forwards, trying to overcome the pure terror that was pulsating through my entire body. It was time. She was coming. There was no more waiting. But I wasn't ready for this! I needed more time to come to terms with this. I couldn't let my baby out into the world yet! It wasn't safe!

I let out a wail, and I felt something gently slapping my cheek.

"Katniss! Come on baby breathe! Katniss!" slowly my eyes focused on possibly the only thing that could get me through this moment: the clear blue eyes that had seen me through my entire life since the war.

All of a sudden my lungs remembered how to inhale and things shot back into focus.

"Peeta!" I whispered urgently, "She's coming!" my voice broke and I could feel the tears rushing down my face, "she's coming and I'm not ready! I'm not ready for this!"

Peeta sat me up and pulled me close to him, I buried my face in his chest and cried. He rubbed his hands up and down my back and whispered soothing words into my hair.

I pulled back suddenly and got up, waddling over to our chest of drawers.

"We need to go!" I said, grabbing a duffel bag and shoving clothes into it haphazardly.

"I think you have some time before we need to get to the hospital," Peeta reasoned.

He would know, he is the one who read all the pregnancy books, offering me bits of trivia here and there that I had tried my hardest to block out. Of course, some of them stuck anyway, like the fact that contractions start far apart, but get closer and closer together as the time for the delivery draws nearer and the baby comes out into the world.

"Not to the hospital! To the woods! We need to run away, where the Capitol can't get her!" I say, panting, and stuffing more clothes into the bag. I am about to head to the kitchen to see what our food situation is like when Peeta's hand grabs mine and he stops me.

"Katniss, there is no need to run away," he gently reminds me.

Tears fill my eyes and I shake my head.

"We need to keep her safe! I have to be able to keep her safe!" I cry, breaking down.

Peeta pulls me against him again, and I cling to his steadiness.

"We will, we will make sure she is the safest baby in the country, but we are going to need a house to do that honey. Babies aren't safe in the woods."

I have a sudden image of myself with a newborn baby in one hand, a bow in the other with a sheath of arrows strung across my back. Peeta is right, that is no way to raise a baby.

I release a shuddering sigh and sink down onto the edge of the bed, my head hanging in my hands. Peeta sits next to me, always in contact. I am grateful for this. I need his solid strength, his calm reasoning today.

It was my fault that I was not ready for this. I had practically ignored the fact that I was pregnant for the entire time. Around the five month mark I had actually planned to go hunting, and was out the door with my weapons when Peeta caught me.

"_What the hell do you think you are doing?"_

_I stared up at Peeta, I had never heard him speak like that.. not since.. I pushed the thought away and answered._

"_Hunting, I was craving some raccoon, we haven't had any in a whi- Oi! Peeta!"_

_He had grabbed my bow and was trying to rip the sheath of arrows from my back, but I held onto them stubbornly._

"_Are you kidding me Katniss? Please tell me you are kidding me!"_

_I stared stubbornly up into his eyes, finally recognizing the anger there._

"_Oh for the love of-" he cut himself of, closing his eyes. "Get back into the house now." He ordered curtly._

"_No." _

_His hand went to the back of his neck. A move I know he makes when he is striving for patience._

"_Katniss, get back in the house now, or so help me I will carry you like a sack of flour and lock you in your room until the baby comes!"_

"_Don't say that," I hiss, looking down at the ground. I was pretty good at forgetting I was pregnant, despite the growing bulge around my abdomen. Unless she moved, I could pretend that I had just finished a hearty meal and was bloated._

"_Don't say what? When the baby comes?"_

_I looked away and then down at the ground, scuffing one of my boots back and forward in the dirt._

"_Katniss," he said, more gently, "pretending she doesn't exist is not going to make her disappear."_

_So Peeta thought the baby would be a girl too. I absently rubbed my hand along my stomach, wondering if we were right before terror overtook me at the thought of the Capitol coming for my baby girl, at the thought of someone taking her away and making her go through something like the Hunger Games. My breathing hitched and I reached out for Peeta as I gasped for breath. His arms came readily around me, holding me close._

"_The Capitol!" I managed to get out._

"_Shhh, the Capitol wont touch her," Peeta assured me._

"_The games!"_

"_Are over, they are not coming back, not in our lifetime."_

_He cupped his hands over my cheeks and made me look at him._

"_This baby is going to be the safest baby in all of Panem. She has you for a mother."_

_He leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on my forehead. I relaxed into his embrace, resting my forehead on his chest. I felt him relieving me of the arrows. I smiled before pulling back and looking up at him._

"_So you think it's a girl too?"_

Another sharp pain pulled me out of my memories and into the present. I gasped and tears filled my eyes at the intensity of it. Peeta sat by, helpless to stop the pain I was feeling, but trying to comfort me any way he knew how, supporting me, touching me, kissing my temple, letting me squeeze his hand until I'm sure he thought his fingers were going to fall off.

The contraction passed and left me panting. I leaned into Peeta, seeking his comfort.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered. I weakly patted his hand, letting him know it would be ok.

"Is there anything I can get you?" he asked.

"Can you call my mother?"

She had come to Twelve about a month ago and was staying in Peeta's old house to help with the delivery. Without another word, he ran out to get her.

* * *

><p>Several hours of excruciating pain – and no small amount of panic – later, I finally heard the tiny wail of a newborn infant. I lay back against the pillows, exhausted. Peeta sat next to me, encouraging me, I could see tears of joy in his eyes and I smiled tiredly up at him, despite the terror even now threatening to overtake me.<p>

At that moment though, my mother placed my daughter in my arms, and the world shrank down to just the two of us.

The terror calmed immediately and a fierce protectiveness rose within me such as I have never felt before. I leaned down to give my tiny daughter a kiss, promising myself that she would be safe and cared for all the days of her life.

I looked up and saw Peeta, as captivated by our daughter as I was. He reached out and gently touched her cheek. Exclaiming gently over how soft she was. I reached out with my free hand and cupped his cheek. He turned his gaze towards me and we smiled at each other.

I knew now that he was right. Everything was going to be ok. Of course there were going to be days when the nightmares crowded in, days when the darkness coloured everything, but we would get through them. Because we were a team, and with Peeta by my side, I knew that we could overcome the dark days and see the good in the world again. I knew that we could raise our daughter in safety. I leaned up and gave him a gentle kiss, which he reciprocated enthusiastically.

"Thank you," he said when we pulled apart.

I just smiled and kissed him again.

* * *

><p>KC<p>

Please review :)


	5. Chapter 5

I looked down at her, nestled in my arms, and my heart pounded. Since the moment I had looked into her eyes after the first games and she had admitted that it was all for the games – or mostly for the games, I had refused to let my heart run away with me. Even with all the drama of the second games, and the kiss on the beach which remained in my memory burning like a torch, I still reminded myself that her love was a strategy. A ploy used to survive.

_Not real. Not real. Not real. _Played over and over in my head all throughout every single one of our times in front of the camera – every time she kissed me, every time we embraced, and especially all throughout the second games. I had to remind myself that it was all to survive, because it was way too easy to let myself fall into daydreams where it WAS real, where she really loved me, really cared for me, really felt the fire in our kisses.

It had been different since the war. There were no cameras left, no one who cared if we were together or not. And yet here we were. Together.

She roused at that moment and stretched. She lifted her head and squinted up at me, offering me a sweet smile.

My heart constricted as my mind repeated that familiar phrase. _Not real._ I smiled back down at her, wondering how long I was going to torture my heart like this.

_As long as she needs me_ I answer myself, pulling her tighter against me.

She snuggled into me, and wrapped her arm around my middle, squeezing gently before relaxing again.

My mind wandered back down my previous train of thought. Despite there being no cameras, no need to be so friendly to me, ever since that first night where we had chased each others nightmares away, she had been treating me with more and more fondness. Leaning her head against my shoulder when we were sitting on the same lounge. A gentle touch on my arm as she passed by me. A small smile, and now this cuddling up to me in the morning business.

Then, of course, there were the bad days, mornings when she woke up screaming and would only relax when my arms were surrounding her, days when she would wander around the house in a daze, staring off into the distance and not eating. Afternoons when she would disappear, and I would find her hiding in the closet, muttering to herself, only coming to when I spoke to her and eased her back to reality.

I though about my own bad days. Days when the flashbacks overcame me and the nightmares seemed so real I had to hold onto something to keep my grip on reality.

The first time it happened the nearest item had been a dining chair, and I gripped it so hard that I thought I had surely broken it. The flashback passed, however, and I found not only the chair in one piece, but a pair of arms encircling my waist, and a warm presence at my back. As I relaxed, her hold on me loosened, and I turned to thank her. I couldn't get the words out past the lump in my throat however, and I just wrapped my arms around her and held her close for a long moment. She held me back, saying nothing, but gently stroking her fingers through the hair at the back of my head.

_Not real._ My mind screamed at me once again, but my heart was starting to fight back. Maybe it was real! There was no reason for her to pretend anymore, maybe she really did love me?

_Not real._ My mind fought the possibility, trying to protect myself from getting hurt again, trying to lessen the pain of rejection by not caring so much.

My heart though, screamed for answers. What if it WAS real? What if she DOES love me? That changes everything.

By the time she stretched and looked up at me again, I had driven myself crazy arguing with myself, so I took a deep breath and looked down at her. One way or the other, I have to know.

"You love me. Real or not real?"

A soft smile graces her lips and my heart pounds in anticipation of her answer.

_Not real, not real, of course she is going to say not-_

"Real."

She whispered it, but we were so close I heard it clearly. I stared at her for a moment, processing what she said.

"Real?" I confirmed, tears starting to pool in my eyes. I blinked rapidly, trying to dispel them, but they were persistent.

She pushed herself up on her elbow and leaned over me, reaching one arm to gently trace over my eyebrow and down the side of my face. She nodded assent and bent in to gently kiss me.

I closed my eyes in pure bliss as our lips met and I knew for the first time that this was real.

She pulled away after a moment and looked at me, uncertainty in her expression.

"Do you still love me?"

I realized then, I had not kissed her back.

A huge grin split my face, and I reached up to cup her cheek.

"Always."

* * *

><p>KC<p> 


	6. Chapter 6

"Eat your peas sweetheart," mama tells me.

I look up at her grey eyes and notice some sadness. She sometimes gets sad spells. She told me once that bad things happened when she was younger and sometimes she still gets sad from them. When she gets really sad only daddy can make her smile. Daddy is good at making people smile.

I hope she doesn't get really sad tonight because daddy had to go to the Capitol for a checkup last week and he's not supposed to get back until tomorrow. So I smile up at mama and scoop up a big forkful of peas. I frown down at them for a moment - I don't really like peas - before shoving them in my mouth and making myself chew and swallow. Yuck.

But the smile mama gives me is worth it. It is small, but it brightens some of the sadness in her eyes, and I happily turn back to my meal as she turns back to my younger brother, Rye. He is almost two now, and can sort of feed himself, but he makes a huge mess doing it, so mamma or daddy always have to watch him. Not me. I'm getting really big, and turning six years old, so I can feed myself!

I push some more peas around my plate as I think about something my teacher said in school today. It wasn't our usual teacher, mrs Cartwright, who I think was away because she was sick. When the fill in teacher learned my name she had got really excited and asked me how my parents were doing. I didn't even get a chance to tell her that they were the greatest mama and daddy in the world before she started gushing about something called the hunger games and mockingjays and I got a bit confused. The teacher saw that I think, because she apologized and let me sit down. But when I got home, I had asked mama what a hunger game was. She went white for a moment, the sadness clouding her eyes, but then she had smiled brightly and said they were something from the past and did I want to read a book? I love books and so we went and she read to me for a while, but after that and before dinner I had heard her crying in her bedroom. I tried to be especially good for the rest of the night, I didn't want her to get really sad when daddy wasn't around to cheer her up.

Mama is watching me again, and I realize I have been pushing my peas around my plate and not actually eating them. Sigh. I gather the last of the peas together and scoop them on my fork, ready to put the gross things in my mouth when I hear the front door open, and the sound of boots stomping off snow. Mama's head lifts so fast, her eyes locking on the doorway. I watch her face as daddy comes into the kitchen. It brightens like the sunrise, and she gets up, and runs to him.

He opens his arms to welcome her, and for a long moment, they stand with their arms wrapped around each other. I smile as I see daddy gently kiss mama's forehead. He whispers something to her and she smiles up at him, the happiest smile I have seen her wear since he went away.

Mama steps back, and I know now it's my turn. I drop my fork onto my plate, my peas scattering everywhere, and run to him. He crouches down and extends his arms out and I jump into them. He holds me tight, and I feel like the happiest, luckiest girl in the world with a daddy like mine. I lean back after a moment.

"You weren't supposed to come home until tomorrow!" I say, nothing but glad that he is early.

"I know!" he smiles at me and I smile back at him, "but the doctor let me go early! Isn't that great?"

I nod happily, and he sets me back down next to the table.

"It looks like you have a few peas to finish off, and then what do you say I read you a bedtime story?"

Ecstatic, I grin and nod enthusiastically, jumping back up onto my chair, and shoving the peas into my mouth without a second thought. I watch as daddy picks my brother up and holds him close for a moment, before going back to mama and giving her another kiss. Mama just smiles, takes Rye and climbs the stairs to get him ready for bed.

A few minutes later, I am tucked into my own bed, daddy sitting next to me, reading my favorite book in his deep voice. My eyelids start to droop, but I notice mama come to the doorway and lean on the frame, watching us with a big smile on her face. The sadness is but a small shadow in her eyes, and seeing her happy makes my heart happy, and as daddy closes the book and leans in to give me a goodnight kiss, the smile on my own face stretches from ear to ear.

* * *

><p>KC<p>

**hey so this idea came out of reading the hunger games, yet again, when Katniss remembers her mother lighting up when her father comes home.. I wanted Katniss's daughter to witness that also. I've never tried to write from a young child's perspective before, so hopefully it isn't too awful! Please let me know what you think!**


End file.
